Wrapping a building in solar panels to maximize energy

By Billy Ludt, Solar Power World 

Solar systems are predominantly installed on rooftops in urban settings, where open land is scarce but multi-level buildings are aplenty. Often, the roof space on these structures isn’t large enough to host solar systems that can cover a building’s entire energy footprint, so they’re supplemented with renewable energy credits (RECs) generated by out-of-city solar systems.

Onion Flats, an architecture firm, wanted to buck that trend and maximize PV output without having to subscribe to RECs on its Front Flats apartment building project in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The solution was installing solar panels on the roof, as well as on the majority of the east-, west- and south-facing walls of the building. In total, the solar system generates 176 kW, which is more than the Front Flats needs — and that’s by design.

Like an onion, Front Flats has layers

Philadelphia design-build architecture firm Onion Flats installed a 176-kW solar system with a rooftop canopy and wraps around the east-, west- and south-facing walls of its Front Flats apartment building. Onion Flats

Being in a state and city not known for solar incentives, the Front Flats project is an anomaly, both in appearance and size. 

“I wouldn’t call this a solar city,” said Tim McDonald, CEO of Onion Flats. “The renewable energy credits in Pennsylvania suck, but you go across the bridge to New Jersey and it’s a different world. There’s not a real incentive financially to push it. We push it because we think that’s where we need to be.” 

From the second story up, the 28-unit apartment building’s windows are slightly obscured by bifacial solar panels protruding from its exterior walls. Those vertical panels on the east, west and south façades meet the horizontal modules held by canopy supports on the roof. Tenants have rooftop access, where shade gardens are planted, and McDonald said the bifacial module shell still allows natural light into the building and offers additional visual privacy. 

Read the full story

Try our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics, FREE for a full month

Wrapping a building in solar panels to maximize energy Read More »

New 100mw solar facility to power Google data centers

By The Chattanoogan

The Tennessee Valley Authority said Monday that the new 100-megawatt solar facility in Obion County, Tn. will supply carbon-free energy to Google’s data centers in Clarksville, Tn. and Hollywood, Al. 

Florida-based solar developer Origis Energy is using TVA’s nationally recognized Green Invest program to develop the solar farm.

“The Green Invest program helps customers like Google meet their long-term sustainability goals with new renewable energy projects,” officials said. “In the past two years, Green Invest has generated $1.4 billion in economic activity in TVA’s service area.”   

Read the full story

Care to share? Use icons at bottom to share this post on social media

New 100mw solar facility to power Google data centers Read More »

FERC wants disposition plans for canceled Atlantic Coast Pipeline

By Emily Brown, Nelson County Times

A federal agency has put the canceled Atlantic Coast Pipeline on the clock, asking officials to file specific plans by the end of 2020 for disposition of the defunct project.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week asked ACP to file a plan within 60 days on intentions for the project’s facilities and the areas for which the pipeline was set.

“In order for us to determine if additional Commission authorizations are required … we will need more detail …” FERC’s request states.

Try our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics, FREE for a full month!

The interstate natural gas pipeline received federal approval from FERC in 2017. In early July, facing a number of court challenges to other regulatory requirements, ACP officials canceled the project.

Nelson County was one of several localities that would have been crossed in Virginia; the project had been set to cut through 27 miles in the county. The 600-mile project was planned to cross West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.

Specifically, FERC asked ACP to provide a schedule – including initiation and completion dates – for disposition and restoration. FERC’s request also asks for description on restoration activities on disturbed rights of way, as well as updates on ACP’s consultation with landowners on preferences for restoration.

Read the full story

FERC wants disposition plans for canceled Atlantic Coast Pipeline Read More »

The New York Times’ digital subscriptions generate more revenue than its print ones for the first time

By NIeman Lab

There are still votes left to be counted, but The New York Times is finished counting its third-quarter numbers, and we can project a winner: The Times now, for the first time, generates more revenue from its digital subscribers than from its print subscribers. And its total count of subscriptions passed 7 million for the first time last month.

As of Sept. 30, its number of digital news subscribers was up 45.9 percent over the previous year. Even better were its “other” digital subscriptions (mostly Games and Cooking), which were up 63.6 percent. (That nomenclature is a change, by the way: What the Times has for decades called “Crosswords” is now broadened to “Games” in the company’s filings. Spelling Bee remains on the march.) Print subs, meanwhile, were down 3.9 percent.

In all, that’s a year-over-year increase of more than 2 million digital subscriptions. (It took the Times more than four years from the launch of its digital paywall to hit 2 million subscribers total. Now that’s one year’s haul.) The Times added 393,000 digital subscribers in the quarter.

Subscription revenues increased 12.6 percent to $301 million and digital-only products revenue increased 34 percent to $155.3 million, making digital readership the only source of growth for The Times this quarter. Print subscription revenue decreased 3.8 percent to $145.7 million “largely due to lower retail newsstand revenue, while revenue from our domestic home delivery subscription products grew 2.5 percent.” Advertising remains a giant mess, down 12.6 percent in digital, an astonishing 46.5 percent in print, and 30.2 percent overall.

Read the full story

Don’t miss information like this. Click to receive free EP Blog updates

The New York Times’ digital subscriptions generate more revenue than its print ones for the first time Read More »

Justice’s top election crimes prosecutor quits in protest over Barr memo

William Barr DOJ election fraud Richard Pilger
U.S. Attorney General William Barr

By DANIEL VILLARREAL, Newsweek

Richard Pilger, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Director of the Election Crimes Branch, has resigned following Attorney General William Barr‘s authorization earlier today for federal prosecutors to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Pilger, whose office oversees investigations into voter fraud, reportedly tendered his resignation within hours of Barr’s authorization, The New York Times reported.

“Having familiarized myself with the new policy and its ramifications… I must regretfully resign from my role as Director of the Election Crimes Branch,” Pilger wrote in his resignation. He will continue working in the DOJ as a line prosecutor in the Public Integrity section prosecuting corruption cases.

The re-election campaign of Republican President Donald Trump and various Republican political leaders on the federal and state level have alleged that fraudulent ballots swung the contentious presidential race into the favor of Trump’s opponent, Democratic President-elect Joe Biden. These allegations have yet to be substantiated.

Barr’s authorization ignored a decades-old DOJ policy to keep law enforcement separate from committing actions that could affect an election’s outcome, according to the Times. Barr sought to have investigators complete their work before each state certifies its final election results and ballot counts throughout November and December.

“Public knowledge of a criminal investigation could impact the adjudication of election litigation and contests in state courts. Accordingly, it is the general policy of the department not to conduct overt investigations,” says the Justice Department’s longstanding election guidelines for prosecutors.

Read the full story

Related news stories:
DOJ’s election crimes chief resigns after Barr directs prosecutors to probe voter fraud claims (NBC)
DOJ’s top election crimes prosecutor quits in protest after Barr tells federal attorneys to probe unsupported allegations of voting irregularities (CNN)

If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

Justice’s top election crimes prosecutor quits in protest over Barr memo Read More »

U.S. surpasses 10 million coronavirus cases

Experts warn country is entering worst phase


By Washington Post reporters  Antonia Noori Farzan, Rick Noack, Adam Taylor, Kim Bellware, Lateshia Beachum, Ruby Mellen, Hamza Shaban, Meryl Kornfield and Meryl Kornfield and Darren Sands

The United States surpassed 10 million coronavirus cases Monday, just 10 days after hitting 9 million. The average number of daily new infections has exceeded 100,000, and public health experts warn that the country is entering the pandemic’s worst phase. At least 237,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus since February.

The milestone came as Pfizer announced its coronavirus vaccine candidate was more than 90 percent effective, compared with a placebo. Epidemiologists and health experts were optimistic about the results but also cautioned that more information is needed on the vaccine’s long-term efficacy and safety.

Here are some significant developments:

EnviroPolitics Blog is working to keep you informed about all aspects of the coronavirus — the status of confirmed cases, disease spread, death toll–and also how Americans are coping. Like this story, for instance. If you like what we are doing, Click to receive free EP Blog updates and please tell your friends.

U.S. surpasses 10 million coronavirus cases Read More »